An object of the present Invention is to help return a crew operating a vehicle, like a space shuttle, when compromise of the vehicle's thermal-protection surface could lead to catastrophic loss of crew and vehicle. Of the 113 shuttle launches during a 22 year period, the safe return of crews was achieved 98.3% of the time. In the only two exceptions, crews may have safely returned using existing operational capabilities of the shuttle. One of the two vehicles was Challenger, Jan. 28, 1986, whose crew consisted of commander Francis R. Scobee, pilot Michael J. Smith, and astronauts Judith A. Resnik, Ronald E. McNair, Ellison S. Onizuka, Greg B. Jarvis (a fellow member of the technical staff at what was then Hughes Space and Communications Group), and Sharon “Christa” McCaliffe. The other vehicle was Columbia, Feb. 1, 2003, with commander Rick D. Husband, pilot William C. McCool, and astronauts Michael P. Anderson, Kalpana Chawla (“Culp-na Chav-la”), Laurel B. Salton Clark, David M. Brown and Ilan Ramon. This Invention is motivated out of respect for the profound commitment these husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, sons and daughters made in a shared national and international purpose. And it respects the sentiment of the only U.S. president ever to be awarded a patent since the U.S. Constitution was set in motion, regarding those who purposefully give “the last full measure of devotion”:                . . . It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain . . .                    President Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg, Nov. 19, 1863                        
Providence's wisdom, in permitting the U.S. Constitution to exist in its present form, allows a citizen to present a petition, such as this one, regarding useful innovation that may benefit society as a whole. Though powerless while receiving the news reports of Columbia a year ago, Feb. 1, 2003, developing this Invention was the only means available for this writer to check the downward cycle of despair that enveloped himself, his fellow Caltech alums, the nation and the world, as occurred 17 years prior, with Challenger on Jan. 28, 1986.
It is also remembered that certain events precipitated NACA (National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics—the precursor to NASA leading up to the 1950s) to evolve, having been formed to allow the U.S. to achieve and maintain leadership in the aeronautic arts. Yet, as the level of technical excellence and precision was raised to achieve space flight, NACA had to give way to NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), respecting a fundamentally different type of leadership, philosophy and technical commitment to express the nation's new aspirations beyond aerodynamics—research stimulated and advanced by the Wright brothers, Samuel Langley and others in America, as well as internationally, near the turn of the last century.
The NACA/NASA change was and is in complete harmony with the U.S. Constitution:                . . . [T]hat whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.        Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. Congress, Jul. 4, 1776        
In other words, the issues embracing the nation's attention, first with Challenger, and later with Columbia, are not specific to just a technological imperative, an institution, or even to this present generation. Because of such issues' visibility to the entire world, they evidence the most sublime meaning of American-based ideals, through a present-day people, and within a shared national purpose which, from the beginning, like so many other American endeavors, has been pregnant with risk and danger, as well as unparalleled achievement and success. The Declaration of Independence acknowledges as much, suggesting that expediency show deference to prudence, while avoiding destructive ritual that may be indifferent to new avenues of safety and happiness for any citizen, regardless of station.
Thus, the matter, at hand, transcends merely the technological arts, exposing the underlying values of those whom, today, must also, by necessity, send others into harm's way.
NACA constituted sacrifice, on an unprecedented scale, to advance the aeronautic arts. And NASA benefited from that knowledge, advancing it far beyond what the NACA charter could encompass. NASA, though formed during the Cold War, inspired a new generation to embrace an impossible challenge—and achieve it.
Now, before us is a new challenge, and it shall again require the boundless energy, enthusiasm, innovation and commitment of a new generation. As NACA provided the foundation for NASA to come into being, so NASA may become the precursor of . . . what?
The California Institute of Technology; the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Illinois Institute of Technology; Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; New York Institute of Technology; New England Institute of Technology; Georgia Institute of Technology; Oregon Institute of Technology and universities such as Stanford, Berkeley, Princeton, Chicago, Rice, Rutgers, Dartmouth, Ohio, Michigan, Oregon, Purdue, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Houston, Louisville, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, Alabama, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin and Illinois and others represent academic institutions with a profound interest in space and technology to explore it, whether through manned-vehicles or remote probes and robots. It will be from institutions such as these that men and women will come with vision of greater achievements and successes.
NACA was a precursor organization in the evolution that lead to NASA in the 1950s. It is proposed that NISAA continues this progress, in the first decade of the 2000s, as the National Institute for Space and Aeronautic Achievement. NISAA will draw on the best talent from America and the world to advance the cause of shared-human achievement through space exploration, vehicle innovation, sustainable system design, and aerodynamic research. Intrinsic to NISAA's mission is the recognition that all progress, in the discovery and exploratory arts, entail prudent acceptance of risk, uncertainty and danger that the unknown always presents. Yet the confidence to go forward respects the unparalleled sacrifice and accomplishments of those who always answered the call, before, that now compels excellence from a new generation, today.
NISAA goes beyond administering the exploration of space to achieving the highest levels of excellence in the discovery and exploration arts. NISAA benefits from the perspective, wisdom and practical skills NASA helped foster, just as NACA did for NASA prior to the 1950s. The level of investment through NASA was extraordinary compared to anything NACA ever attempted. At the time NASA reflected a national purpose visible to the whole world, affirming American values and the respect for every living soul who is sent into harms way to fulfill such purpose.
NISAA will express these values in new venues, protocols and future endeavors. Its very newness establishes a vibrancy and expectation unlike anything before. It will accept personnel, technology and know-how from its predecessor. However, as NASA did before it, NISAA will define itself in new ways, with new personnel, new innovations, and new achievements that will be wholly its on. Its leadership will be more attuned to the constituent technological institutions, which themselves are among the best the world can offer. With “Achievement” in NISAA's name, it will be a light from and to academe and industry, fulfilling its mission, disciplined by wherewithal inherited to carry the torch forward.
The Invention herein is to help complete the legacy of NASA technology and accomplishments with the space shuttle that are extraordinary in the history of nations. This Invention is to help ensure that NASA is honored for all that it has done for America and the world through the lives of those who served it, whether on earth or above it. And as NISAA may come into being through a new birth of commitment, let it always be remembered that such birth, when and where it is permitted to be, has been through the lives of those who gave the “last full measure of devotion.”
Thus, this Invention is a declaration of honor and gratitude to NASA, its current administrator, its past administrators, and its talented explorers, scientists, engineers, technicians, management, administrative, operations and support staffs who have carried the torch through the unknown, and lighted the way for an unlimited future that awaits a new generation, with courage and dedication to embrace and advance what NACA and NASA have set before mankind. This will not be achieved within the first 100 days of NISAA, nor perhaps the first thousand days, nor within the present generation. There may yet be unforeseen set backs. But with the steady confidence and progress NACA and NASA established, let us begin.